Ind. schools chief leery of armed school staffers

Ritz speaks out against bill pushing to authorize school employees to possess guns on school property.

TOM DAVIES

Posted on April 3, 2013 at 1:00 a.m.
| Updated on April 3, 2013 at 4:17 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s state schools superintendent says legislators are going too far with a proposal that would require all schools to have an employee armed with a loaded gun.

Superintendent Glenda Ritz said Wednesday she believed such decisions on school security should be made by local school districts without mandates from the Legislature.

Indiana would become the first state in the country to require armed school employees if the bill approved Tuesday by a state House committee were to become law.

State law currently prohibits anyone other than police officers and authorized school employees from possessing guns on school property. Experts don’t know of any Indiana districts that now allow non-police officers to have guns at school.

Supporters of the requirement say it would lessen the vulnerability of schools to violent attacks.